Modern hospital beds may be raised and lowered by electrical motors. The push button control member may be placed into socket wells, located at the side and foot of the bed. Because it is difficult for patients to reach these controls, the controls are usually removed from the provided holders, and along with nurse call and television controls, are tied to bed side rails or clipped and pinned to bed sheets, to make them more accessible to the patient.
It is standard hospital procedure to keep bed side rails free from obstructions, so the patient can be attended to quickly in emergencies.
Controls that are tied to side rails often get caught and jammed between rail and bed frame causing severed cords and damaged controls.
Controls that are pinned and clipped to bed linens cause extensive damage to sheets, pillow cases, and controls. Such procedures can result in hindering the procedures necessary to reach the patient quickly, since the cords must be unclipped, unpinned or untied to get the controls out of the way and attend to the patient.
In recent years, more and more hospitals have installed television in the wards and rooms. In order to cause the least disturbance to other patients, the television control unit and the sound speaker are mounted in an expensive control unit connected to the television set by a long cord. This cord is also attached to the bed sheets by a metal or plastic clip or tied to the side railing. The TV control unit is fairly heavy and causes considerable damage to sheets. Further, senile patients often will roll over onto the metal or plastic clip or unit causing injury to themselves or damage to the unit if they urinate on it. Such control units cost between $60 and $80 and are difficult to repair and costly to replace.
In addition to the electrical cords above mentioned, it can be easily seen that in the future, as hospital labor costs escalate, it will be inevitable that more control units with their cords will become a part of the equipment which will be attached to the bed so that the patient can take care of himself to a greater extent.
In addition to electrical control unit cords, some hoses are occasionally taped to the bed or attached to the side rails such as oxygen tubes, IV tubing, and oxygen and other body function monitoring cords.
In short, the hospital bed has become a sophisticated apparatus with a myriad of cords and hoses, but hospital bed manufacturers have failed to provide a functional apparatus for holding these control units.